Women Violence Awareness

I just read a article from Israel
about the year end report on violence against women; 15 women murdered
this year by their significant other, 10% increase in calls to hotlines,
etc. etc.

This
is not nothing new to me. Back when I was teaching Krav Maga in the
Israeli high school system I would bring newspaper clippings and
statistics making the very same point; every seven hours, on average, a
rape is reported in Israel, 1 of every 4 women who attend an American
college will report a rape before graduating, etc. etc. The result?
Nothing, nada, the girls did not pay attention, they did not feel like
participating, they preferred to treat this as a free period as it was
not being taught by their regular teacher and they would not be tested
on the material. They showed total disrespect for the class. As a result
I did not continue teaching in this program.

So I read in this
morning’s report that an “International violence against women’s” day,
or something, will be declared. There will be a march to “raise
awareness” etc, etc, etc, and I wonder.

I wonder what is the point
of all this “Awareness” . All over the place you will see martial arts
instructors advertising self defense classes for women, and yet, even
when these classes are offered free to the public, there are few takers.
My friend/teacher/mentor, Arthur Cohen, wrote a book “A Woman’s Guide
to Self Defense”, but do women buy it? Hardly, instead they buy trashy
romance novels or diet books. The violence continues, and I wonder.

There
is enough awareness, it is in the papers daily. All you have to do is
open the papers or glance at the internet. What we need is for women
themselves to take action. What is the point of being aware of something
if you do nothing about it? Yet when I suggest to women to take Krav
Maga lessons I usually encounter responses like “I am not into that sort
of activity, it is not for me.”

Well you know what? It is
for you, it is for everyone. Just as going to the doctor is for
everyone, and fitness, exercise and proper diet is for everyone, so too
some basic self defense skills and training is for everyone, everyone
who does not want to become a statistic that is.

One does
not need to become a black belt or spend five years training in martial
arts. With a system like Krav Maga one can learn some very valuable self
defense and survival skills in a short amount of time. No matter how
long you train there will never be any guarantees, one can never predict
what will happen in a real life encounter. However, you can certainly
improve your chances drastically by investing some time in learning
practical self defense.

When approaching this topic please be
aware that not all martial arts are focused on short term reality self
defense training. Invest your time before choosing a school. In the
modern western world most martial arts are really martial sports. They
are designed more for sports and competition than for surviving a street
or violent home situation. Chose your program carefully.

It is
truly tragic to read all these reports, year after year, about violence
against women. There is much that must be done about this in the fields
of education, law, public hot line services etc, but let us not forget
one very important point; each one of us is ultimately responsible for
our own survival. So lets do something about it, now.